School Has Started (and I was tagged)

The weather is getting cooler (mid 80's) and the sky is gorgeous. Things would be wonderful if I could just get the squirrels and the crows to stop eating my figs.

The knitting in my life:
Well, school has started, and not just for my teenage son. I have started the Masters Class Level I, and I am getting ready to start a Norwegian knitting class. I am really excited about both. I have done 12 of the swatches for the Masters class. I am going to add one or two pictures of them I am in the early stages of learning how to utilize this program. It already seems limiting for the novice. Enough of that. The multi-color baby sweater got the best of me. It has vexed me at every turn. I went to sew the sleeves on and they were too small. I must have switched over to the 12 month size, and needless to say (however, I am going to anyway) it is now banished to the UFO basket until, maybe (or not), the next granddaughter comes along. My lace shawl is moving along now. I have two more rows before I start knitting the end section! I thought I would never get to this spot. It feels good.

What is going on in my life:
My youngest son has just started his senior year in high school. Wow. He has settled down into a study routine (he had summer assignments for his AP classes). My mom is going to visit my sister, and then my brother and is going to be gone for 3 whole weeks!! She lives with me and does not drive anymore, so the only break I get is when she goes on a trip. I have to say that my sister is great about scheduling those trips! It is just going to be my kids, my DH and me. Oh yes, I cannot forget my Rose (the dog). It is amazing how quickly I fall into the "she's gone" routine. She has been with me for 11 years, and......well, let me say this, "they do not make a house big enough for two families!"

The coffee in my life:
This week I have roasted an aged Sumatra Mandheling. My family loves it. The coffee is roasted with a profile that brings the heat in low, and then increases it as the roast moves along. If the heat is not brought in at the right time, I will loose the momentum of the temp rise, and stall out. The bean is drier from being aged (5 years in a temperature controlled environment) and grown at a low altitude. I roast to full city. The coffee is smooth and amazingly mellow with a subtle malty flavor. I am very pleased with the profile.
I also roasted some Selve Negra. I do beleive that I have landed on the perfect roast profile. This is a clean, high grown bean. I bring my heat in full-throttle, watch my temperature rise, and slide the heat down in order to keep around a 16 to 20 degree per minute rise after it gets going. It is not such a high grown bean that I use my "open hopper" technique for bean development. It fills out beautifully without it. I took this batch to full city and the taste and aroma is amazing. The beans roasted just long enough to take the edge off the brightness, but not so long that the roasty char flavor started to overwhelm the flavor. When I open the bin, the aroma sweet and floral and I can hardly stop smelling it. The flavor follows suit. The family raved about this profile. Not too acidic but with a nice lift to the flavor. The body was light and silky. The flavor was floral with a hint of caramel. I think I will stick to this profile.

Here I get sappy:
Here at home times are tough. My son-in-law was let go from his job (recession reduction), and he cannot find another comprable job (again the recession). They are going to loose their house because of all of this. My daughter is a real trooper. I cannot say how proud I am of how she is dealing with this. My son-in-law graduated from the top law school in VA, so he is enormously qualified. He is diligently searching for a job here in VA or in NC. He has passed the bar in both states, and he is only 24! He graduated college at 20, and he graduated from UVA at 23. He is everything I could ask for my daughter. We could use a lot of prayers for a quick resolution to his job situation.

On another note: TAGGED!
It seems that I have been tagged.
chickenlily tagged me quite some time ago. I am now taking up the torch.

Here are the rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

So I'll start with 7 weird/random facts:

1)I used to own a coffee shop, and I still own my 15# Deidrich roaster. I roast my own coffee, because quite frankly, I like the way I do it.

2)I love my garden. I have spent the last 10 years finding unique plants and planting them in my yard. I love to propagate, and have a "nursery" on my back deck.

3)I hate it when my husband leaves the top off of the toothpaste.

4)I collect coffee mugs. This should not come as a great suprise. I have them from all of the places I lived and visited (my husband used to be in the Air Force)

5) I do not wear any make-up. I own it, but DH hates it, so I save the $ to buy, you guessed it, YARN.

6) There are only 3 states that I have not been to: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. I hope to remedy that before DH retires.

7)I like ketchup on my macaroni and cheese.

Now........I am going to tag :

knititknititgood

RoHunDoc

smellyann

KimberlyC

BookishlyFab

5DogNight

Turtleknits

Now to say TTFN.

To BEE or not to BEE

Today I have to start differently than last I posted. Life is educational and I want to pass on to you a lesson I recently learned.

What is going on in my life:
I have to tell you about my gardening experience yesterday. I will start by explaining a few things about ground bees. Yes, for those who are not familiar with them, there are bees that have their hives in the ground. They are rather stealth. In the summer when Iam continuously pestered by flies and mosquitoes, Flying things are just more flying things. They just keep buzzing and biting and buzzing and biting... I digress. Ground bees are fiercely protective of their nest (I think you know where I am going with this). Well, I was pruning my hedge, and found a nandina bush under my azelia bush. I proceeded to trim back into the bush in order to liberate this captive of the bush. As I stepped into the hedge to save this poor bush, I was attacked from behind! Then I was attacked on my arm. I screamed and went running for cover. They were buzzing around my head. They were shamelessly chasing me down ( I failed to tell you that they will chase you down)! I zigged to the left and then to the right (that was predictable). I went racing for cover. The garage door is in sight. I run into the door, slam it shut and franticly scan for any enemies that may have followed me into the house. Nothing there. All was quite. The battle was over. Now to attend to the wounds. I had two stings. The one on my arm was minor, although it hurt like the devil. The one on my back was a different story. The enemy had left it's sword in my left shoulder blade. This one hurt considerably more. It took too long for my husband to come home and extract the stinger from my shoulder. When all was said and done, I made my husband go out there and gather up my gardening tools! I was not foolish enough to go out there again!

The knitting in my life:
The baby sweater that is out to beat me into submission moves on. Still working on the last sleeve. My shawl is limping along. Why is it that no matter how careful you are, you can always make a mistake. I am completely without skill at fixing stitches in a lace pattern when found two rows later. It's "Greek to me." Knowledge comes with experience, right? Sigh...I would appreciate a little less experience.

Here I get sappy:
I have the most beautiful granddaughter. Her name is Melanie. I am her Nonni. She is the one for whom I am knitting the baby sweater. I thought I would let you see her for yourself. I my be prejudiced, but now you can see why I am so determined to complete Melanie's sweater. Taa taa for now.

Life in Little Neck with Knitting and Everything Else

I am sitting here contemplating my life. It is a crazy life with demands that only I seem to be able to accomplish. Family pulling in all directions. Somehow the craziness is worth every minute of it.

The knitting in my life:
I like to have a current project and a long term project (knitting of course.) My long term project is a lace shawl. It is the Estonian Garden Wrap & Scarf pattern by Fiber Trends. I am using Maggi knits Irish MK Collection Luxury Hand Knitting Yarn, Maggi's Multi Linen. Color 106 is a three strand yarn wrapped together. It has pale blue, taupe and tan. The three yarns are three different wpi's. It is a challenge to knit. I have to be alone and have everything quite to work on this shawl. So...you can imagine how much of a long term project this is going to be.

My short term project is a sweater, from a booklet that I no longer have (in other words lost.) I have my photocopy of the pattern, and I know that it is Design 9: Hooded Gilet and Jacket with Zip or Buttons in Peter Pan Velvet Touch. All of the patterns in the booklet used Peter Pan Velvet Touch. I am knitting the Hooded jacket with buttons. I am using Peter Pan Velvet Touch color 1227 (multicolored purple/yellow/green/magenta/blue.) This has been the sweater from ----! I have frogged the back completely, twice. I have frogged both front panels multiple times to multiple locations in the pattern. I am now working on the second sleeve. This is supposed to be my last piece. However, I am waiting to see how the second sleeve turns out, and see if it matches the first one. Unfortunately I have my doubts that they will match. This is a BABY SWEATER, and I have been working on this for 6, count them, 6 months. Or is it 8?

As for what is going on in my life:
I just finished repairing a garden that the tree removal men had to dig up in order to bring the monstrosity of a crane into my front yard. I still have more to do. I need to move some other bushes that were in full shade and are now in full sun. If that is not enough, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation board had to approve the removal of the trees. Here is the best part. I have to plant 5 trees for every one tree that was removed. We are talking 20 trees to plant. Now 20 trees sounds like a whole lot, but what they don't care about is that I already have 30 trees on my property! I have no idea where I am going to place said trees. You see my dilemma. And as we all know, that only scratches the surface of what else is laying there before me.

Here I get sappy:
Hopefully I will be able to take you through the journey of life and knitting with me...without boring you to tears. Now I think I will escape into my knitting and a cup of coffee. I think the house is quiet...shhhh.